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Carrie Cheeseman suffered horrific injuries when a car careered into her and her two children last year

by Jay Unger

A Leeds woman who suffered a horrific accident just 12 days before her wedding will be putting her dress on again – for the charity that helped saved her life.

Carrie Cheeseman, 41, from Morley, was left with multiple injuries five years ago, after a car hit her and her two children, less than 50 metres away from her front door in 2009.

She smashed her head on the car windscreen before being thrown twenty metres through a fence and landing in a neighbour’s garden, and was airlifted to Leeds General Infirmary by helicopter.

She had broken her back, neck, the entire right side of her body, both legs and several ribs as well as suffering from a punctured lung and sustaining severe damage to her knee.

But to raise money for the Yorkshire Air Ambulance, Mrs Cheeseman will putting her wedding dress back on later this year for a wedding themed fundraiser.

She said: ““I wanted to hold a ball and my friend, who believe it or not actually hoovers in her wedding dress, suggested the wedding theme. It will be fantastic and I really hope we can raise a lot of money.”

She added: “It was the most horrible thing that has ever happened to us in our lives. It does play on my mind, no child deserves to not have either of their parents there for them.

“Its not what happened that gets me to the point of being emotional, it’s what could have happened. I could have been much worse off. The kids could have been much, much worse off, and that’s what you try not to dwell on.”

She described how she refused to accept her wedding would not go ahead – and how she is hoping to get back into her dress for the ball.

Just months after the accident, her then fiancé, Stephen Cheeseman, was also airlifted to hospital by the Yorkshire Air Ambulance service, after coming off his bike whilst training for a triathlon.

Mrs Cheeseman said: “I was crossing a road near my house. My husband was riding a bike, which he does everyday to work. Within six months we had the Air Ambulance called out twice doing normal everyday things.”

“I always tell people you just cannot plan for the unforeseen. People should support this amazing charity who are there for people when they really need them.”

Her children, who were also injured in the accident, sustained several injuries themselves, with her daughter Scarlett,now 6, suffering from a broken pelvis, broken ribs and a lacerated liver – and son Maxwell, now 8, also enduring a blow to the head. But Mrs Cheeseman was determined to be released from hospital to spend Christmas with her family at home.

After a 10-month postponement, the couple walked down the aisle in August 2010.

Finally tying the knot

The fund raising ball is being held at the same venue where the couple got married, the Marriott Hotel, Leeds, on Saturday October 10.

The £45 tickets include a three-course meal, welcome drink, DJ and band, casino, raffle and auction.

For more information and to buy tickets please contact Carrie on 07803 821372